Silverware cabinet

ABSTRACT

Oxygen is removed from the interior of a housing or chamber adapted to contain silverware so that the silverware will not oxidize or tarnish due to oxidation. The oxygen may be removed from the silverware housing by means, for example, of an oxygen consuming flame burning within the housing, by purging the interior of the housing with a non-oxidizing gas so as to provide therein a non-oxidizing atmosphere, or by evacuating the housing and replacing the evacuated atmosphere with a non-oxidizing gas.

United States Patent Harding 1451 Mar. 21, 1972 54 SILVERWARE CABINET3,111,371 11/1963 Bull ..21/2.5 3,188,166 6/1965 Dietz et al.. ..21/2.5[72] m 204 Tarrymw 3,519,398 7/1970 Roberts ..148/16.7 x

Rlchmond, Va. 23229 [22] Filed: Jan. 13, 1970 Primary Examiner-FrederickL. Matteson Assistant ExaminerHarry B. Ramey 1 1 pp 2,495AttorneyBac0n&Thomas 52 us. 61 ..34 4s, 21 2.5, 34/74, [57] ABSTRACT34/218, 206/75, 312/31 Oxygen is removed from the interior of a housingor chamber [51] Int. Cl ..F26b 21/14 adapted to contain silverware sothat the silverware will not [58] Field of Search ..34/15, 36, 74, 218,44, 45; xidiz 0r tarnish due to oxidation. The oxygen may be 21/2 5; 14/1 3; /75; 312 31 removed from the silverware housing by means, forexample, of an oxygen consuming flame burning within the housing, by 56]References Cited purging the interior of the housing with anon-oxidizing gas so as to provide therein a non-oxidizing atmosphere,or by UNITED STATES PATENTS evacuating the housing and replacing theevacuated atmosphere with a non-oxidizing gas. 1,939,497 12/1933l-lerrlng ..206/75 X 1,979,820 11/1934 Bowling ..148/l6.7 7 Claims, 5Drawing Figures SILVERWARE CABINET BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Inthe past, various methods and apparatus have been employed in anendeavor to prevent silverware from tarnishing and oxidizing, so that itwill retain its characteristic bright and shining polished appearance.Polished silverware has been coated with various air imperviousmaterials, stored in closed, sealed housings often when chemicals orsubstances purported to prevent tarnishing or oxidating, and wrapped orcovered with material designed to prevent the ambient air fromcirculating in contact with the silverware in order to prevent or reducethe oxidation and tarnishing of the silverware. However, no suitablesolution has been provided in the prior art for maintaining uncoatedsilverware in a nonoxidizing environment for extended periods of time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a housing orcabinet for storing clean and brightly polished silver in an atmospherecontaining substantially no oxygen, that is a nonoxidizing or inertatmosphere, so that the silverware will not become tarnished or oxidizeddue to oxygen reacting with the surface of the silverware and forming adark, unsightly tarnished surface of silver oxide.

It is an object of this invention to provide a sealed silverware cabinetfrom which substantially all of the oxygen may be removed in order toprevent tarnishing and oxidation of the surface of silverware containedtherein.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a silverware cabinet inwhich silverware can be stored for extended periods of time in anonoxidizing environment.

Another object of the invention is to provide a silverware cabinet fromwhich substantially all of the oxygen may be removed by purging theinterior thereof with a nonoxidizing or inert gas.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a silverware cabinetwhich may be evacuated in order to remove substantially all of theoxygen therefrom and the removed oxygen replaced by an atmosphere of anonoxidizing or inert gas.

An additional object is to provide a silverware cabinet in which anoxygen consuming flame may burn in order to remove the oxygen from theair within the cabinet.

It is also an important object of this invention to provide a sealedsilverware cabinet from which the ambient atmosphere may beautomatically removed in response to closing the access door thereof andan inert or nonoxidizing atmosphere automatically supplied to thecabinet to replace the removed oxygen containing atmosphere.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent and betterunderstood when considered in the light of the following specificationand claims taken with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a silverware cabinet according tothis invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the silverware cabinet of FIG. 1 taken online 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the silverware cabinet taken on line 3-3of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing a modified form of thesilverware cabinet of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, schematic, fragmentary, perspective view partlybroken away of a further form of the invention wherein the ambientoxygen containing atmosphere is automatically evacuated from thesilverware cabinet and replaced by a nonoxidizing or inert atmosphere.

The silverware cabinet of FIGS. 1-3 includes a rectangular shapedcabinet having a back wall 3, side walls 5 and 7 and top and bottomwalls 9 and 11 respectively. Preferably, the cabinet 1 is maintained ashort distance above the supporting surface by the legs 13.

The front wall 15 of the cabinet 1 includes vertical side members 17 and19 with horizontally extending top and bottom members 21 and 23extending between the side members 17 and 19 to form an open rectangularframework or access opening 27. A resilient seal 25, formed of suitablerubber, plastic or like material, is fixed to the front face of the sidemembers 17 and 19 and of the top and bottom members 21 and 23 to providea continuous seal around the rectangular shaped access opening 27.

An access door 29, which may have glass panes 31 installed and sealedtherein, is mounted on the front wall of the cabinet by a plurality ofhinges 33 fastened to the vertical member 19 and to the door. The accessdoor 29, when in the closed position, bears against the resilient seal25 with sufficient force to provide a gas tight seal entirely around theperiphery of the door. The door is maintained in the closed, sealedposition by any suitable fastening means such as the latch 35 mounted onthe fixed pivot pin 37 carried by the access door and engageable withthe keeper 39 fixed on the side member 17.

The interior of the cabinet 1 includes a portion referred to as ahousing 41 in which the silverware is to be stored and which issubstantially gas tight when the access door is closed, and a chamber 43in which apparatus to be discussed later is mounted. The housing 41 isseparated from the chamber 43 by a vertical partition 45 extendingdownwardly from the top wall 9 and between the side walls 5 and 7 to ahorizontal partition 46 extending rearwardly of the cabinet from thevertical partition 45 to the rear wall 3 and between the side walls 5and 7. A door 47 mounted on the hinges 48 at the rear of the cabinet andheld closed by the fastening device 49 provides for access to thechamber 43.

The walls of the housing 41 and the access door 29 are constructed ofselected materials and in such a manner that they are substantially airimpervious so that the housing will be substantially gas tight when theaccess door 29 is in the closed position bearing against the resilientseal 25. A plurality of vertically spaced shelves 50 provided forsupporting silverware or boxes for holding silverware thereon, extendbetween the side walls 5 and 7 in the housing portion of the cabinet.

In the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the oxygen isremoved from within the housing 41, when the access door 29 is sealedclosed, by an oxygen consuming flame 51. Fuel for the flame may beprovided by a suitable combustible gas, preferably hydrocarbon gaseswhich are readily available and inexpensive such as propane, naturalgas, etc., maintained under pressure in the tank 53 supported on thehorizontal partition 46 in the chamber 43 and secured therein by aresilient clamp 55 fixed to the side wall 7. A suitable gas burningnozzle 57 extends into the housing 41 from an opening formed in thelower portion of the vertical partition 45 and is connected with theoutlet of the tank 53 by a flexible hose 59. The tank 53 is ofconventional construction and is provided with the usual manual shut-offvalve, pressure gauge to indicate the pressure of the gas within thetank, and adjustable pressure reducing valve. A control valve 61 forcontrolling the flow of the gas from the tank 53 to the nozzle 57, isconnected with the flexible hose 59 between the nozzle 57 and the tankpressure reducing valve and may be mounted in the chamber 43, as shown,or in the housing 41 adjacent to the partition 45. The control valve 61may be opened and closed manually by the valve handle 62 or it may be athermostatically actuated valve of conventional construction having athermostatic couple 63 extending from closely adjacent the nozzle 57 tothe valve 61 so as to be heated by the flame 51 for maintaining thevalve 61 in the open condition as long as a flame is burning at thenozzle 57 and for automatically closing the valve 61 when the flame isextinguished. Preferably, the valve 61 is of the type which may beopened and closed thermostatically as well as manually.

Obviously in the simplest form of the invention, the control valve 61would be opened and closed manually by the valve handle 62 and thethermostatic couple 63 would be eliminated. Thus by manually opening thevalve 61, lighting the gas at the nozzle 57 and closing the access door29, the oxygen within the housing would be consumed by the flame. As

soon as the flame became extinguished, as observed through the panes 31of the access door, the flow of gas from the tank 53 would be manuallyshut-off, leaving the silverware in the housing in a nonoxidizingatmosphere.

When the thermostatic couple is employed for controlling the valve 61,and a flame is applied to the nozzle 57 and to the thermostatic couple63, the valve 61 will open and gas will flow through the hose 59 and thenozzle 57 where it will be ignited, after which the access door will beclosed tightly against the resilient seal 25. The flame at the nozzle 57will continue to burn and to consume oxygen until substantially all ofthe oxygen in the housing 41 is consumed, after which the flame will dieout whereupon the heat sensitive thermostatic couple 63 will operate toclose the valve 61. In this condition, the interior of the housing 41will contain substantially no oxygen and the silverware supportedtherein will be stored in a nonoxidizing environment.

The pressure within the housing 41 will be reduced to below normalatmospheric pressure due to the flame 51 consuming the oxygen. While thesilverware may be stored in this low pressure, nonoxidizing atmosphere,it is preferred to replace the consumed oxygen with a nonoxidizing orinert gas and to maintain the interior of the housing 41 atsubstantially atmospheric pressure or at a small positive pressure. Forthis purpose, a pressure tank 64 having the usual shut-off valve,pressure gauge and pressure reducing valve mounted thereon andcontaining a nonoxidizing or inert gas is mounted in the chamber 43 onthe horizontal partition 46 and is connected with a suitable shut-offvalve 65, such as a tapered plug valve, by a hose 66 passing through anopening formed in the partition 45. The shut-off valve 65 is mounted onthe side wall with the valve stem extending through an opening formed inthe cabinet wall 5 so that the valve can be opened and closed from theexterior of the cabinet by means of a valve handle 67 fixed on the valvestem.

The valve 65 may be opened at any time after the flame 51 is ignited andthe access door closed to provide the interior of the housing 41 with anonoxidizing atmosphere from the tank 64. The pressure regulating valvecarried by the tank 64 is preferably set to furnish gas to the interiorof the housing 41 at a pressure at least equal to average atmosphericpressure or a slight positive pressure so as to provide a conditionwherein, should any gas leakage occur past the access door seal 25, thenonoxidizing or inert gas would flow out of the housing 41 rather thanthe oxygen containing atmosphere flow into the housing.

In the event that a nonoxidizing atmosphere is not provided in thehousing 41 and it is desired to permit the pressure within the housingto remain below normal atmospheric pressure, a manually actuated valve68 may be mounted on a pipe 69 passing through the side wall 5. Thevalve 68, which is normally closed, would be opened just prior to accessdoor 29 in order to permit air to enter the housing and equalize theinside pressure with that outside of the cabinet so that the access doorcould be easily opened.

In the form of the invention shown in FIG. 4, the silverware cabinetconstruction is the same as the one already described. A tank ofnonoxidizing or inert gas 70 is mounted on the partition 46 in thechamber 43 and is provided with the usual shutoff valve, pressure gaugeand adjustable pressure reducing valve. A nozzle 71 mounted in the upperportion of the partition 45 is connected with the pressure reducingvalve of the tank by a hose 72 and a manual flow control valve 74 ismounted in a pipe 74a which bypasses the pressure reducing valve of thetank 70. A one way check valve 73 mounted in the bottom wall 11 isconstructed and arranged to open when the gas pressure within thehousing 41 is a small amount, usually of few pounds, above the maximumatmospheric pressure to be expected in the region where the silverwarecabinet will be used.

The oxygen containing atmosphere in the silverware cabinet of FIG. 4 maybe purged from the housing 41, after the access door 29 has been closed,by manually opening the flow control valve 74 and permitting thenonoxidizing or inert gas in the tank 70 under pressure to bypass thepressure regulating valve of the tank and to enter the housing 41through the nozzle 71 thus forcing the ambient air out of the housingthrough the check valve 73. After it has been determined that all of theoxygen containing air has been purged from the interior of the housingand that nonoxidizing or inert gas is issuing from the check valve 73,the manual control valve 74 is closed. The pressure regulator valve onthe tank 70 is set to open at a pressure which is slightly less thanthat required to open the check valve so that the interior of thehousing will be automatically maintained at a small value aboveatmospheric pressure. Thus, if the nonoxidizing or inert gas leaks outof the housing and the pressure therein is reduced, the pressureregulating valve will open and supply the housing with sufficientnonoxidizing gas to maintain the desired elevated pressure therein. I

In FIG. 5, a schematic arrangement is shown for automatically evacuatingthe interior of the housing upon closing the access door and forreplacing the evacuated air with a nonoxidizing or inert atmosphere.

The silverware cabinet of the form of the invention illustrated in FIG.5 is constructed substantially the same as the one described inconnection with FIGS. 1-3 although it is not shown in its entirety. Atank of nonoxidizing or inert gas 75 provided with the customaryshut-off valve, pressure gauge and pressure regulating valve, is mountedon the partition 46 in the chamber 43. The tank 75 is connected with theinterior of the housing 41 by a conduit 76 which passes through anopening formed in the partition 45. A unitary electric motor and vacuumpump 77 is mounted in the chamber 43 with a pipe 78 connecting thesuction or inlet of the vacuum pump with the interior of the housing 41.The outlet or discharge from the vacuum pump passes out of the chamber43 to the atmosphere through a suitable grillwork 47a formed in thechamber door 47.

An electric switch 79 mounted at the upper left-hand corner of thecabinet in position to be operated by the access door when it is closed,completes an electric circuit for actuating the electric motor andvacuuming pump 77. As soon as the pressure in the housing 41 decreasesbelow atmospheric, for example, a few pounds, a normally open pressureactuated switch 80 exposed to the pressure in the housing 41 will closeand complete a circuit across the contacts 800 and 80b to a solenoidoperated keeper 81 which will lock the access door latch 82 againstmovement and prevent the opening of the access door while the vacuumpump is running and the pressure in the housing is low.

When a high degree of vacuum is obtained in the housing 41 andsubstantially all of the oxygen containing atmosphere has beenevacuated, a vacuum actuated switch 83 exposed to the pressure in thehousing 41 will be actuated from the full line position to that of thedotted line to open the circuit to the electric motor through thecontact 83a and to complete a holding circuit through the contact 83b toa solenoid actuated valve 84 connected with the conduit 76 downstream ofthe pressure regulating valve of the tank 75. The nonoxidizing or inertgas will then flow into the housing 41 and replace the evacuated air.The pressure regulator of tank 75 is preferably set to maintain apositive pressure above atmospheric in the housing 41. As the pressurein the housing approaches atmospheric the switch 80 will open thecircuit to the solenoid operated keeper 8] so that the latch 82 will bereleased.

The cabinet may remain in this condition, that is with the housingcontaining a nonoxidizing or inert atmosphere at a small positivepressure, for as long as desired. Opening of the access door will openthe circuit at the door switch 79 releasing the holding circuit to thesolenoid valve 84 and shutting off the flow of gas from the tank 75 andthe switch 83 will be moved to its initial position shown in full linefor completing a circuit to the electric motor 77 when the access dooris again closed. The automatic operation described above may beinterrupted at any time by opening a manual switch 85 mounted on theside wall 5 and in the electric supply line 86. The interior of thehousing 41 may then be connected to atmosphere by opening the valve 68in the pipe 69 extending through the wall 5. The interior of the housing41 may be illuminated by a light bulb 87 controlled by a switch 88mounted in the top wall 9.

While the cabinet of the present invention has been described as beingparticularly adapted for storing silverware, it would obviously servefor storing other articles or materials which desirably are to be keptin a nonoxidizing or inert atmosphere.

What I claim is:

l. A silverware cabinet, comprising: a closed housing having an accessdoor; means for supporting silverware within the housing; meansproviding a substantially gas tight seal between the access door when itis closed and the housing; and means for sustaining an oxygen-consumingflame for removing substantially all of the oxygen from within thehousing when the access door is closed.

2. A silverware cabinet according to claim 1 in which means is providedfor replacing the removed oxygen with a nonoxidizing gas.

3. A silverware cabinet according to claim 2 in which the gas is aninert gas.

4. A silverware cabinet according to claim 3 in which the gas isnitrogen.

5. In a closed silverware cabinet having a gas tight sealed access door,means for evacuating the cabinet when the access door is sealed closed;a source of non-oxidizing or inert gas; means for releasing said gasinto the interior of the cabinet; means for interrupting the release ofthe gas while the access door is open and while the cabinet is beingevacuated; means responsive to the closing of the access door foractuating the evacuating means; means responsive to a relatively highdegree of vacuum in the cabinet for deactuating the evacuating means andfor actuating the means for releasing the gas into the cabinet toprovide therein an atmosphere of the gas of at least substantiallyatmospheric pressure.

6. A closed silverware cabinet according to claim 5, including anormally deactuated means for locking the access door, and meansresponsive to a pressure in the cabinet of less than about averageatmospheric pressure for actuating the lock means.

7. A closed silverware cabinet according to claim 5, in which said gasis nitrogen.

2. A silverware cabinet according to claim 1 in which means is providedfor replacing the removed oxygen with a nonoxidizing gas.
 3. Asilverware cabinet according to claim 2 in which the gas is an inertgas.
 4. A silverware cabinet according to claim 3 in which the gas isnitrogen.
 5. In a closed silverware cabinet having a gas tight sealedaccess door, means for evacuating the cabinet when the access door issealed closed; a source of non-oxidizing or inert gas; means forreleasing said gas into the interior of the cabinet; means forinterrupting the release of the gas while the access door is open andwhile the cabinet is being evacuated; means responsive to the closing ofthe access door for actuating the evacuating means; means responsive toa relatively high degree of vacuum in the cabinet for deactuating theevacuating means and for actuating the means for releasing the gas intothe cabinet to provide therein an atmosphere of the gas of at leastsubstantially atmospheric pressure.
 6. A closed silverware cabinetaccording to claim 5, including a normally deactuated means for lockingthe access door, and means responsive to a pressure in the cabinet ofless than about average atmospheric pressure for actuating the lockmeans.
 7. A closed silverware cabinet according to claim 5, in whichsaid gas is nitrogen.